I was back in the graveyard.
In front of me was Myungsoo, his back facing towards me.
And right in front of him was the mystery man...his gun pointing straight at him.

I heard Myungsoo's voice echo in my head, "RUN!"
But I couldn't.
I stood there, watching as the gunshot rang through the silence, and Myungsoo crumpled to the ground.

I screamed, running over to his body, holding onto him like I was holding onto what little bit of life he had left.
The mystery man turned his gun to me. "I'm giving you 5 seconds to run."

One
Two
Three
Four

Five never came.
I closed my eyes, ready for the pain, ready for death.
But it never came.
I opened my eyes, tears streaming down my face as I propped myself up on the bed.

"You're finally awake."

I whipped my head around and saw him, sitting on the coach beside the bed.
His clothes were mud stained, dirt streaking everywhere.
His hair was a mess.
His pants now had rips that weren't there before.
But I didn't care.

"MYUNGSOO!!!!" I literally flew into his arms, burying my head into his chest and tightly squeezing onto him. I felt his strong arms wrap around me as he placed his lips onto the top of my head.
The tears kept coming at this point.

"I thought you died! I thought you weren't gonna come back!" I sobbed into his shirt, feeling his hand trail down my hair. "You jackass! I swear if you ever scare me like that again..."
"You'll what?" he smirked, lifting me onto his lap.
"Nevermind..." I mumbled, turning my face away in embarassment.
"I thought so..." he chuckled, hugging my waist and leaning his head into my shoulder. We just sat there for a few minutes in silence until he finally broke it. "I'm guessing you want an explanation?"
"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to."

He sighed, taking his head off my shoulder and looking at me straight in the eyes.
"3 years ago...when you got into that car accident, the doctor actually told your parents that you had a slim chance of waking up. I kinda overheard it and felt guilty."
"Why? You're the one who saved me..."
"But I didn't get there fast enough. If I had been a couple of seconds early, you wouldn't have wound up in the hospital. So I felt like it was my fault. Every day before I came to see you, I would go and try to look for something that would help you to wake up...and my only start was this key."

He brought it out from his pocket and put it in my hands. I peeked over his shoulder and noticed that the gold box was now sitting next to the silver one.
"You brough it back?" I said, panic starting to edge into my voice. He nodded.
"Which is why I don't have much time to explain," he looked over my shoulder and out the window...as if he was checking for something.

Or someone.

"I thought that every key must open something...especially when the key looked like this. So I took it to every lock and key store I could find but every single owner said they've ever seen anything like it. On the day you woke up, I went into the last locksmith's store in the city. The guy you saw at the graveyard, Lee Chung, was there asking the owner about something. He left after a little bit but still hovered around the front desk when I went up to ask, After the owner said he didn't know anything, I was about to leave when Lee Chung grabbed my arm and told me he knew something about the key. I was desperate...so-"
"You followed him."

Myungsoo nodded, putting his head back on my shoulder.
"He asked me where I got my key and what I was gonna do with it. I told him that I didn't know how I got it and that I needed it to save you. He just nodded then reached underneath his coat and pulled out the gold box. He told me that only the right person and the right key can open it, and that whatever was inside could save you. But there was a catch. If he gave me the gold box, I had to find its partner...and I knew it was you. At the time, saving you meant everything...so I agreed. After you woke up, I forgot about the agreement, but he didn't..."
"He's the one who made me pass out the second time," I said, getting off his lap, "He's the one who stole my memories!"

Myungsoo nodded from the coach.
"I don't know how, but I knew it was him. And I knew I couldn't keep you safe by being around you. So I left Seoul and came here."
"To New York City?"
"I thought if I was half way around the world in a different country, you'll be safe and I could get away from Lee Chung. I was wrong. You were safe, but I couldn't escape him. He followed me to New York because he wanted the key and the box. It was like living hell for 2 years...until I finally got sick of it. I told him that he could forget about opening the boxes cause I was never gonna do it for him. But then he mentioned my parents."

I let a tiny gasp escape from my mouth.
"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to," I said, sitting down beside him and giving his hand a squeeze. He gave me a little smile and shook his head.
"I'm fine. I got over it 3 years ago. He told me he was the one who told them to leave me behind. He had been tracking my key for the longest time and it finally led him to my house. When he got there, I wasn't there so he threatened my family. They escaped. I don't blame them."
"But they left you alone."
"I would've told them to go anyways. They did what they needed to do but apparently not well. He found them after I left Korea and killed them."

I stood there frozen.
I didn't know what to say.

"After he told me this, I kinda lost it. I didn't know what I was doing. I just grabbed the box and ran until I wound up at that exact cemetary. As soon as I walked past that stone box, my key started glowing so I unlocked the gold box and took out a lock."
"So the box was basically telling you to hide it and lock it away?"
He nodded. "Before I put the gold box in there, my key glowed again. I opened it and found one pill in a glass bottle."
I gave him a confused look. "A pill?"
"One of those pills can erase your memory of the past 1 hour," he explained, "The box just wanted me to forget where I hid it so I only took half the pill. If I had no idea where it was, Lee Chung wouldn't have any reason to hunt me down. By the time he caught up to me, the box was locked up and I had forgotten where I put it. I guess he's been waiting all this time for me to try to find it again."

"So you knew what the box did all this time...and you didn't tell me," I got up again, backing up to the bed. He looked at me, mixed emotions in his eyes.
"I did it for your own good," he sighed, ruffling his hair, "Plus, you would've found out eventually. I can't rush these things."

I was about to say something back but something moving outside caught my eye. Slowly, I crawled over the bed and peeked out the window with Myungsoo right behind me.

"Get out of here," was all he said before he went into panic mode. He lept over the bed and grabbed both boxes.
"No," I blocked his path, holding my arms out so he couldn't get past the door, "I'm coming with you. We're getting through this together Kim Myungsoo."
"But-"
I shook my head, taking the silver box from his hand. "I'd say we have about 5 minutes before he crashes through my parent's front door. We should leave. Like now."
 

Author's Note

title quote: "Am I strong enough to endure this"
"흘린 눈물이 헛되지 않도록"~Fixed Star